As part of a global deployment of fast, convenient and secure mobile payment services for Samsung smartphone users, technology giant Samsung Electronics has unveiled Samsung Pay, a first-of-its-kind secure and convenient mobile payment service, in South Africa.

Using both magnetic secure transmission (MST) and near-field communication (NFC) technology, and equipped with Samsung’s defence-grade Knox security platform and biometric user authentication through iris or fingerprint scanning, Samsung Pay is deemed the most widely accepted mobile payment platform.

The “safer, simpler payments, anywhere” mobile wallet platform is available in 24 markets worldwide, enabling users to make mobile payments for in-store purchases almost anywhere, safer and simpler, as the world of contactless payments evolves faster than ever before.

“Samsung Pay works almost anywhere you can swipe, insert or tap a card, so, as the first country in Africa to implement this, we are hugely excited about how it is going to transform our customers’ lives,” says Samsung South Africa integrated mobility VP Craige Fleischer.

In South Africa, Samsung Pay is currently available to Absa and Standard Bank customers with supported Mastercard and Visa cards, as well as Avios credit cards, British Airways credit cards and Virgin Money cards.

More banks and cards will be added in future.

“Samsung Pay is committed to driving the mobile wallet movement in Africa, and this launch furthers Samsung’s dedication to delivering innovative services to consumers everywhere,” he adds.

“Considering the number of smartphone users in South Africa is expected to reach over 25-million by 2022, we [see] the phone [as] the one item people always have with them and Visa supports payment solutions that fit people’s changing lifestyles,” Visa sub-Saharan Africa digital solutions head Geraldine Mitchley says.

Samsung Pay gives users full control of their digital payment by ensuring all transactions are secure and authenticated by the user.

Payments are made through the launch of the Samsung Pay application, the authentication of the users’ iris, fingerprint or four-digit Samsung Pay-specific Pin, then tapping or holding the Samsung device close to the payment terminal.

Because Samsung Pay works on both MST and NFC contactless and noncontactless point-of-sales (POS) terminals, vendors do not need to change their current POS machines to accommodate the technology.

Users’ personal payment information is safe, and tokenisation ensures that a user’s actual card information is never exposed during a transaction – Visa and Mastercard each tokenise cardholder details, where a ‘token' and not a real card number is provided for the shop, but with the guarantee of a transaction as if made with a physical card.

The mobile payment application also supports loyalty cards to obtain points or miles.

Supported devices include the Galaxy Note9; Galaxy Note8; Galaxy S Series; Galaxy S9 and S9+; Galaxy S8 and S8+; Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge; Galaxy A Series; and Galaxy A8.

Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A5 will be supported from September.

Samsung Galaxy smartphone users, after upgrading to the latest software version, can download the Samsung Pay application from the Google Play store, register or log into their Samsung account, select a preferred method of verification by fingerprint, iris scan or Pin, scan a debit, credit or cheque card with the camera and verify the card details.